Printable medication list

The list every hospital, pharmacist and paramedic asks for first. Fill it once, keep it current, print a copy for the fridge and one for the wallet.

Pain diary

For the appointments where 'the tablets don't work' is the whole conversation. A diary turns it into a plan.

What a pain diary is actually for

Pain is hard to describe in a ten-minute appointment, and harder still when the person in pain is not the person who is being asked. A week of entries showing when the pain peaks, what it feels like and what was taken before it peaks gives a prescriber something to change: a different dose, a different timing, a different drug class, or a referral.

Recording it well

• 0–10 scale — ask the same question each time: "how bad is it right now, if 0 is none and 10 is the worst you can imagine?"
• Character — burning, aching, sharp, cramping, tingling. Different words point to different causes.
• What helped — position, heat, movement, rest, a particular medicine and how long it took to work.
• What was taken — name and dose, including anything taken "extra" without asking.

Bringing it in

Print the week, or send the CSV, and put the three worst entries on top. Prescribers act on patterns and on what has already been tried, not on a single bad afternoon.

Questions